Posts tagged: 4th of July

Learn how to make sangria for the perfect summer drink. It’s easy and does the double duty of both looking amazing in a glass and tasting delicious. The concept is extremely simple: add fruit to wine and chill. There are hundreds of ways to customize your sangria but I find that simple is best. Simply add fresh blueberries, strawberries and apples to white wine with a squeeze of lemon, chill and serve with a splash of sparkling water.

The pretty combination of red strawberries, blue blueberries and white apples makes this a must-serve at your 4th of July barbecue. And the best part: it’s easy to transport if you’re not the one doing the hosting. Simply pour the wine and fruit into a large jar with a lid or use plastic 32-ounce soup containers. A bottle of wine usually contains 25 ounces so figure 5 ounces per person.

White wine sangria is best with a bright and light wine, something like chardonnay or pinot grigio. Adding a few dashes of bitters just before serving makes this wine cocktail less sweet. This sangria is best enjoyed VERY cold. So make sure you keep it in the fridge or in a cooler and have plenty of ice to serve with it. Use dainty cocktail glasses or champagne flutes to serve smaller drinks that guests can enjoy before it warms up.

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4th of July: A Red, White and Blue Sangria Recipe

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Ingredients

8 hours, 10 minutes

8 servings

2 bottles of chilled white wine (chardonnay or pinot grigio)

1 cup blueberries

10 strawberries, thinly sliced

1 apple (Gala or Honeycrisp is best), peeled and thinly sliced

1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons juice)

4 ounces sparkling water

Angostura bitters (optional)

Instructions

Ready in

8 hours, 10 minutes

Pour the wine into a large bowl or jar. Add the blueberries, strawberries and apples and use the back of a wooden spoon to mash the fruit (only slightly, for about 15 seconds). Cut the lemon in half and squeeze in the juice.

Chill in fridge overnight. Serve with ice in wine glasses with a splash of sparkling water and a dash of bitters.

The stunning combination of deep red velvet cake with bright white icing, blueberries and blue sprinkles makes these mini cupcakes one of the most festive 4th of July desserts.

What makes a red velvet cake a red velvet cake? Well, for starters red food coloring but also the essential ingredients of buttermilk and vinegar. The buttermilk adds subtle flavor and bounce to the cake and the vinegar is essential to enhance the red color. You can of course simply buy red velvet cake mix or just use your favorite chocolate cake batter recipe.

Cut out some of the sugar by replacing the sugar icing with fresh whipped cream which is so much lighter than traditional cupcake icing. You can even add a drop of all-natural red or blue food coloring to the heavy cream before beating.

Make sure to buy mini cupcake wrappers in blue or silver. In a pinch you can bake the cupcakes directly in the mini muffin tin but know that they are difficult to remove and you’ll need to heavily grease the pan.

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4th of July Desserts Mini Cupcakes Recipe

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Ingredients

For the cake:

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

3 cups cake flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 ¼ cup sugar

3 large eggs

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 stick of unsalted butter (8 tablespoons), at room temperature

1 cup buttermilk

red liquid or gel food coloring (about 2 tablespoons)

1 cup vegetable oil

48 mini cupcake wrappers

For the tops:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

½ teaspoon sugar

½ pint blueberries

¼ cup blue sugar sprinkles

1 cup strawberries

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a paper wrapper in each cupcake slot of the mini muffin tin.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together with a handheld mixer. Beat for 3 minutes, then add the vegetable oil and beat for another minute. Add the eggs, vinegar and 2 tablespoons of food coloring and beat for one more minute. Make sure the color is a deep red and add more coloring as needed. Then add the flour mixture to the batter about 1 cup at a time. Try not to over mix.

Use a tablespoon to scoop the mixture into the lined tin. Fill each cup about ⅔ of the way and bake for 16 minutes. Remove from oven and set to cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then repeat until you have used all the batter.

To make the whipped cream, use the same handheld mixer to beat the heavy cream on high in a large chilled metal bowl for about 5 minutes. Add the sugar as soon as peaks start to form. Chill the whipped cream until you are ready to use it. Use a butter knife to frost the cupcakes and add blueberries, sprinkles and thinly sliced strawberries to decorate.

The moment the weather turns warmer, we’ve got grilling on the brain. The only problem? For many, cookouts immediately call to mind hot dogs and hamburgers, and without a bit of advance planning, vegans can be left holding a sad, frozen veggie burger – a real shame when you consider all the delicious options vegan grilling provides.

The good news is that most people are ready and willing for this unfortunate situation to be relegated to the past: plant-based diets are rapidly growing in popularity, and even omnivores are excited to see (and taste!) delicious grilled vegetables, veggie burgers, and more.

So if you’re ready to make your next vegan cookout a success, look no further: the guide below has everything you need.

Best Homemade Veggie Burgers

Burgers are a staple of barbecues, and vegans need not feel left out. While there are tons of store-bought options to choose from (check out our favorites below!) homemade veggie burgers are even more delicious, and they’re surprisingly simple to prepare. Here are just a few we love:

These sun-dried tomato and lentil burgers are both vegan and gluten-free, and they’re full of flavorful ingredients like sweet potatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, lentils, soy sauce, and garlic.

This green pea burger offers a completely different flavor profile, with a combination of green peas, green bell pepper, spinach, and spices.

If simplicity is all you’re looking for, a portobello mushroom cap, marinated in your favorite marinade or simply seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper, can be a great burger stand-in.

Best Meat Alternatives

Meat alternatives or mock meats are a terrific choice for a quick vegan barbecue main. Tempeh and tofu require minimal prep, and mock dogs and veggie burgers are even easier – just throw them on the grill!

3 Steps to Grill Tempeh to Perfection

This guide to grilled tempeh lays out the ideal steps for grilling the fermented soy product: pre-cook, marinate, and grill.

The pre-cooking step is essential for softening the naturally chewy texture of tempeh and allows the marinade to penetrate more thoroughly, rendering the result even more flavorful. We’ve included one marinade option here, but you can marinate your tempeh with whatever flavors you like best.

Grilling Tofu: It’s All About the Marinade

Once you’ve selected the right tofu for grilling (hint: it’s not silken), grilling tofu is all about adding flavor. First, prep the tofu to soak up as much of your chosen marinade as possible by drying it well. Then, just marinate the tofu until you’re ready to cook it up.

This guide to grilling tofu will ensure that you’ve covered all of these steps, plus a few others, to make your grilled tofu experience as delicious as possible.

Choosing the Best Store-Bought Mock Meats

If you’re looking for a truly no-fuss option, store-bought burgers and mock dogs will become your new go-to.

For mock dogs, we love SoyBoy Not Dogs, which have a relatively short ingredients list including organic soy and excluding wheat. As the package says, “no nitrates and nothing phony.” If you want to peruse even more choices, here’s an excellent guide to some tasty veggie dogs.

For veggie burgers, we still love the classic Amy’s California veggie burger, made with organic vegetables. Amy’s even makes a gluten-free version of the veggie burger, so everyone can partake.

Top 10 Vegan Grilling Veggie Marinades

Grilled veggies make the perfect main or side for omnivorous and vegan grilling parties alike. The secret is finding the perfect flavors to really make those veggies sing.

Marinate your vegetables for as little as 10 minutes when they are particularly porous, like mushrooms, or for up to a few hours when they’re a bit more solid, like carrots and peppers, and be sure to remove any fresh herbs or garlic from the vegetables before grilling them to avoid burning.

Gourmet Vegan Grilling: 5 Recipes

If burgers and not-dogs aren’t your style, take a gander at some of our favorite vegan grilling recipes that are more on the gourmet side. These recipes are sure to impress, but they’re still easy enough to prepare so that you won’t end up chained to the grill all night long.

Image via Karissa Bowers

1. Grilled Asparagus with Lemon White Wine Fettuccine

This vegan asparagus and lemon white wine fettuccine is a delicious way to use your grill to serve up a more gourmet meal. Pencil-thin asparagus are great for grilling, as you can get them nice and charred on the outside and cook them all the way through in a relatively short amount of time.

2. Grilled Romaine

For a more interesting play on a typical summer salad, this grilled romaine recipe is a nice trick to have up your sleeve. You can either serve the lettuce with your favorite vegan dressing or alongside a homemade hummus for dipping.

3. Vegan Tacos with Salted Grilled Plantains

This tasty taco recipe features hearty grilled plantains, which are cooked until they’re nicely caramelized. The result is a taco that perfectly blends the natural sweetness of plantains and the savory flavors of salsa verde, pepitas, and a shredded red cabbage slaw.

Photographs by Erin Kunkel

4. Grilled Vegetable Gyros

Gyros may more traditionally be made with some sort of roasted meat, but this vegan version of the Greek dish uses the flavorful spice blend typical of the recipe on a combination of peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, and onion. In place of the yogurt sauce, this vegan ranch is an excellent accompaniment.

5. Grilled Shishito Peppers

Alone, grilled shishito peppers make the perfect appetizer, but combined with a grilled mock meat of your choice or other grilled vegetables, they can be a great element of a complete vegan grilled meal.

5 Must-Have Grilling Tools for the Perfect Vegan Barbecue

Make grilling a breeze by ensuring you have the tools you need. Here are five of our favorites.

1. Nesting Grill Trays

How often have you marinated your vegetables and brought them out to grill, only to find that the only place to put the cooked veggies is back on that slick prep plate? These grill prep trays are the perfect solution: carry the veggies out to the grill on the top tray, then swap it out and use the clean one to bring your cooked veggies back inside to serve.

2. Veggie Grill Basket

If you’re sick and tired of your veggies falling through the barbecue grates, a grill basket is the ideal tool for you. This nearly 14 by nine-inch basket allows you to line up your veggies for even cooking and flip them all at once with ease.

3. Grilling Tongs

Some veggies, like corn on the cob, can go straight on the grill – no basket required. But using regular kitchen tongs to turn them can leave you with uncomfortably warm (and even burned) hands. These easy-to-use, 16-inch, stainless steel grilling tongs are long enough to keep your fingers out of the fire.

4. Basting Brush

Add even more flavor to your veggies by basting them with marinade as they cook; this stainless steel basting brush makes the task easy. It boasts a 15-inch handle to keep your hands from growing too hot as you brush on the flavor. The silicone head is removable for easy cleaning in the dishwasher.

5. Grill Pan

Just because you don’t have an outdoor grill doesn’t mean you can’t take full advantage of these techniques and recipes. This cast-iron grill pan from fan-favorite Lodge can become a workhorse for your kitchen grilling all your faves on a 16 x 9- inch surface with raised ridges to sear foods. This pan is even reversible with a flat side that’s perfect for weekend brunch faves like pancakes, French toast or even sandwiches and ready to use right away. This pan is also oven and broiler safe.

Did we miss any of your favorite vegan grilling techniques? Let us know via Facebook or Twitter.

Emily Monaco is an American food and culture writer based in Paris. She loves uncovering the stories behind ingredients and exposing the face of our food system, so that consumers can make educated choices. Her work has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Vice Munchies, and Serious Eats.